And while Sulph was the only one to pull a crowd today, tonight perhaps the largest question facing the nation is: will the Teachers Union call a strike? Today for the second day there were no classes at most primary and secondary public schools in the city. This evening the Union's Council of Management finally convened a quorum as 8 of its members gathered at the headquarters for a meeting. The decision of the council is not known at this hour as deliberations continued up to newstime. But what we do know is that the Education Department is working double duty to discourage any strike action. Today, Chief Education Officer Maud Hyde made the media rounds to say there is no reason why there should be no school.
Maud Hyde, Chief Education Officer
"Schools are officially open. We have asked teachers, principals, and managing authorities to keep our schools open to ensure that children are in school and are safe and remain safe. We've spoken to the Commissioner of Police. He has assured us that all efforts are being made to ensure the safety of children. The schools are being kept secured. I see no evidence of an unsettled and volatile situation that the union speaks about. The Ministry is officially asking our teachers to go back to school, to keep the schools open. We are expecting that our teachers are in school and we hope that they will heed this request. There are rules there are laws that govern strike action and I think we intend to work with the laws to ensure that our classrooms remain open."
Hyde noted that Belize City was the only part of the country where teachers left their classes. Catholic Public Schools Manager Clemente Wade today told us that he was "peeved" that people with their own agenda are using children as pawns in their game. He said school managers supported teachers the first time around because there was a legitimate industrial dispute with government which wade says has now been resolved. He says that now teachers have no reason to get involved in the affairs of a private company or at least not to the extent that children will suffer. Wade also directed us to the Education Rules which state that no teacher can subvert or try to subvert the government that is in power. He stresses that all Catholic run primary and secondary schools will be open on Monday. He added that 99% of teachers showed up today but because of media reports that there wasn't going to be any school, parents kept their children at home. He again urges parents to send their kids to school on Monday. And if that wasn't enough, the General Manager of public schools sent out a memo to principals and teachers of government schools warning that, "teachers who continue to absent themselves effective Monday risk their services being terminated."
